Sports Nutrition & Education

Sports Nutrition & Education

A Young Footballer’s Diet

A young Footballers diet should be based around high carbohydrate foods, where 60% of the total energy intake should be from carbohydrate sources, between 12-15% from protein, and 25-30% from fat. The carbohydrate intake should be modified if a player is injured or ill, to around 50% of total energy intake. Young footballers who are training regularly should have a daily target of 8-10g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight (e.g. player with 40kg of body weight = 40 x 8g = 320 g per day.

A diet that is high in carbohydrate and fluids, moderate in protein and low in fat will give athletes enough calories and nutrients to grow, train, and compete. Below are some suggestions of recommended meals, snacks, and foods to avoid before, during, and after games.

High Carbohydrate Eating – Are you getting enough?

Carbohydrate foods play a vital role as a training fuel. The critical source of energy for exercising muscles is from your body’s carbohydrate stores – a little form blood glucose and a larger amount from glycogen stored in your muscles.

These stores are used up when you undertake activity and need to be refilled form the carbohydrate in your diet. Running low on carbohydrate causes fatigue – you may have experienced what it is like to run out of fuel.

The typical eating patterns of most western societies do not supply adequate carbohydrate, and the focus of a winning diet is to increase our intake of these fuel foods.

How much do you need?

To provide energy for a light to moderate training program, nutritionists recommend that carbohydrate food should make up more than half of total energy intake. Athletes with heavy daily training may need to eat higher levels than this to achieve their increased carbohydrate needs.

The amount needed also relates to your body weight, so the larger you are the more fuel you will need. The following is a guide for the different activity levels: